ICDCI now Centum Investments

name change
The former ICDCI will officially become Centum Investment Company Ltd. at the end of the month after the company’s AGM – ending years of confusion with ICDC – its former parent company.

Other than the name change, they are also adjusting their financial year end from June to March which means the year 2007-8 will end in March 08 – just 9 month long).

Last year was active for their investments, but the abbreviated year results could be badly hit by the post-election events. They had acquired shares in KQ, KPLC, Mumias, lightened on Eveready (largest shares block now KCB, Kenya Airways, EABL and Mumias) and sold off real estate (Kimathi House and Consulate Chambers) to improve liquidity. On the unlisted front, they acquired 10% of Rift Valley Railways (and will acquire another 10% from IFC over the next four years) and increased their stake in Kisii bottlers to 24% – so their unlisted portfolio is mainly two insurance and four coca cola bottling companies.

The Road to Namanga

Run for the border

After a month of being cooped up with elections and politics, it’s a welcome opportunity to take a brief trip out of town.

The drive to Namanga is pleasant and with many causal things to observe. However it takes about an hour to leave Nairobi, owing to the traffic from the City Center up to before the airport.

The expansion of Mombasa Road (to three lanes) contributes to a major traffic jam as we pass the still-under-construction new Standard/KTN building, Vision Plaza – an office complex that was slightly ahead of its time, and is still looking to fill some vacant spaces, and Panari Hotel – host of an ice rink, Brazilian restaurant and affordable convenience for transit passengers. As we pass the Jomo Kenyatta Airport in early afternoon, one of new Fly 540 aircraft swoops in to land.

Traffic is slow, at the by-passes and diversions of what used to be Mlolongo infamous meat eating area, towards Athi River which now has an almost -complete cement factory by Tororo Cement who will be the fourth major local producer.

Then there’s the Rattansi peace village, proposed site of new Hindu University of Kenya, and numerous single houses. Whatever real estate prices are in the area, they will probably triple in the next dozen years, after the by pass and dual carriage way roads are completed.

On into plains area with occasional zebra sightings. There are numerous chicken-rearing farms for Kenchic and flower estates. Flower farms are visible even from aircraft, and i wonder if it is possible for a media company to draw up some adverts to be displayed on these roofs for long-distance advertising.

Then the curio shops, some which say ‘welcome’ in German (and other languages) to attract tourists, a well-maintained railway, trains and wagons belonging to Magadi Soda Company. Magadi also have a trial farm growing jatropha seedlings, and this is the road to Amboseli which I wonder why it is not as world famous as the Masai Mara.

Amboseli, has arguably the same wild life concentration, is closer to Nairobi and has better road access. To (cap it all) it has Mt. Kilimanjaro as it’s background.

Finally get to Namanga is about 130 kilometres from Nairobi (from where one can branch off to the gates of Amboseli 70km away, but on murram roads). Namanga is the border of Kenya and Tanzania, but a stop for petrol is not the best decision if you have a travel van. We get hit with high pressure Masai saleswomen – who I had read about but never met – they have very aggressive sales tactics aimed at tourists with dollars. They all chatter and take turns to persuade you to buy their trinkets – pressing beads or amulets to your arms or chest and refusing to take them back, saying they are gifts. Yeah, right!

On into no-man’s land at the border. You have to fill out a departure form on the Kenya side and an arrival form on the tanzania side – all in a space of a 100 metres.

On both sides, there are border ‘fixers’ who are residents of this zone, and who traverse both country offices on foot helping people crossing with bureaucracy, currency, tax difficulties. If you don’t use them, it can take over an hour to cross, with most of the delay comes from the insurance requirement for every personal vehicle at the border.

The Kenya side is the domain of Somali businessmen and they have imposed their law here; it’s like a mini-Eastleigh, clean, orderly, no alcohol, but with tea houses and many super-markets with names like Libaan, Dubai, Taafrik, Mubarak, and Mandera.

The trans-border business acumen of Somali business people is something to be admired as even people in Dubai and China shop and collect their gods from Eastleigh. One day, after the political temperature has gone down, some local university should offer business classes on Somali, Kikuyu and Hindu business, trade, and management models -with business cases to study. I’d pay to attend that class

Namanga is also a mark of contract for two countries, and Kenya loses this time. The Tanzania side of the border is also clean and air-conditioned. But the pen’s to fill out forms actually work and there is an eye-scan device for those requiring Tanzanian visa’s. Once you step into Tanzania side, it’s like you stepped in to coast province, with many buildings having Makuti (coconut thatch)roofs.

Also you can now buy roast tilapia fish and the chips are more generous and healthier than those on the Kenya side, with more drink varieties (Heineken, Pepsi).And that’s a day at the border

Urban inflation index

back to normal

Compared to a year ago

This shows that not much changed for those in Nairobi able to travel around and shop properly at Uchumi that life is pretty normal as far as shopping is concerned.

Litre of petrol: 87.99 shillings (~$5.50 a gallon) and up 18% from a year ago (then 74.29) when you drive around Nairobi you can get prices from about 85 to 92 this week For petrol prices, I have been tracking a brand name station that tends to have slightly lower prices than may parts of the city where the price is at around 91 shillings. And these are expected to go up this year as are electricity bills which are already being billed at 12% higher for residential house. Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi sounded out another warning yesterday to petrol companies to adjust the prices downwards when international oil prices drop – but the companies have, over the years ignored previous warnings from Ministers and government officials, and not passed on any savings to motorists.

Maize meal ugali (2 kg. unga) 52 shillings (50 a year ago)

Sugar (2 kg. Mumias pack) 150 shillings (no change from a year ago)
Fresh food prices have gone up also. Milk and bread have increased by a few shillings depending on where you shop. The prices of vegetables have gone up, some even up to 4X what they were before the election, but vegetable prices are seasonal and once supplies and fresh harvest kick in, the prices should adjust downwards.

Tusker beer: 120 shillings at local pub – up 20% (from 100 a year ago)
some pubs experienced shortages in the post-election period until the only beer they were left with was Guinness

(Safaricom) Mobile phone promotion: a year ago Safaricom had introduced Saasa – with 8 shillings per minute calls during off peak hours. This year they have extended the hours that off-peak applies, while rival Celtel has lowered the bar with 4 shilling per minute calls to 3 preferred numbers
What i really want from mobile company is for one tariff to focus on cheap data charges – SMS, Internet browsing – while voice can remain expensive

US Dollar exchange rate: 70.7 shilling to the dollar – unchanged (was 69.97 a year ago). But this is abnormal as it does not capture the the strength of the Kenya shilling which had appreciated to about 63 just before the election – from December it has lost 10% against the dollar and 17% against the Euro (overall it is 15% weaker against the Euro a year ago.

Record Bank profits expected

No doubt, there will be very strong, embarrassingly record profits (esp. from Equity Bank), which will shock Kenyan’s but the results are for the year (2007) which was virtually over by the time that the country plunged into chaos. The impact of the economic disruptions, violence, and framework may not be seen at banks until after June 2008. Meanwhile one bank that was in expansion mode has put off the program and staff recruitment until further notice.

SME Finance: EABS Bank, soon to be Eco Bank (after the West African bank takes over 75%), has partnered with Enablis to provide young and upcoming entrepreneurs with bank loans this year.

Check your own credit: what has been personal right for millions of US consumers is now available in Kenya – the self credit check. The service is offered by CRB Africa, Kenya’s leading credit reference bureau, but many here have no credit at all. Still it’s a free service, which someone should try out.

Corporate governance; KCB has an ethics help desk at its site to receive confidential reports on fraud and workplace abuses within the organization.

Bug-me-not: From the bankwatch blog comes results of a survey that shows bank customers do not want bothersome SMS’s sent to their phones that don’t add value or inform them much e.g. account balance messages that cost 30 shillings ($0.4). I think it would be useful to have services that tells you when a cheque is about to bounce, or the CFC chip card alerts which inform account holders each time their credit card is charged

opportunities
– EADB: Project Officers, Senior Project officers,
– I&M Bank: Credit Officer, Treasury Dealers/Officers, (Asset) Relationship Manager, (Liability) Relationship Manager, and Relationship Officer
– Inter Region Economic Network (IREN) : Webmaster, HTML text editors, Editor, Marketing Manager, and 3-month internships for year 2008. Apply to the Programs Manager, info@irenkenya.com by 15/2

Bloggers and forums

tribes & stocks: The recent closure of the popular mashada forums could easily have spilt over to the popular shares forum Stocks Kenya had the administrators not put out an appeal for Peace and Reconciliation in Kenya;

We have reduced focus on politics in the discussion forum as the forum it has been abused.

Thankfully it has maintained its tone for corporate and investment issues where the hot discussion topic is now East African Cables, not politics

And Mashada regulars are invited to visit ihavenotribe instead.

Media blogs: The Standard quietly added a blog page with star commentators late last year but without much fanfare and they are not given any prominence on the front page of the newspapers’ website. At least hen the Nation launched their blog page they ran a few columns in the paper itself to promote the feature.

Salute: To Afromusing for a small mention in the Economist on twittering.